A quest to visit NYC's movable bridges by boat

Posts Tagged ‘east river’

Riding the ferry from Governors Island back to Manhattan yesterday I spotted a boat that I have not seen before in these waters: a black-hulled schooner flying the Danish flag. Turns out it’s the Opal. This wooden schooner was built in 1951 as a Baltic fishing schooner. Her crew seems to be a few twenty-somethings (of whom I am not at all jealous, nope, not me, not jealous even a tiny bit) who have recently arrived in New York from the Caribbean via Norfolk, Virginia.

Here are a few shots of them heading up the East River.

Click here for lots of pictures of the boat in exotic locales and shots from below deck. (If this site is to be believed, Opal is for sale.)

Here is the schooner Opal‘s own site in English (thanks, Google Translate) and in the original Danish.

One of the shortest (if not the shortest) ferry trips you can take in New York City is from the Battery to Governors Island. It takes about ten minutes, but it’s totally worth it. You get to see the water side of the recently restored Governors Island ferry terminal:

You get to ride on a vessel with all sorts of nice details that show the captain runs a tight ship, like this line, neatly coiled and ready for use:

And even if it’s raining you get a view of the East River and its bridges: